Smart-card makers join Java team

The now-ubiquitous Java programming language has been endorsed by
just about everyone. This week, makers of smart cards are chiming in.

May 21, 19973:30 PM PDT

The Java train just keeps on rolling.

The now-ubiquitous Java programming language has been endorsed by
just about everyone in the computer industry. This week, makers of smart cards are chiming in,
endorsing Java as a means for enabling a new generation of cards that
manufacturers hope will finally make smart cards as popular in the United States as
they are in Europe.

At the largest U.S. trade show ever devoted
to smart cards--CardTech/SecurTech
'97, in Orlando, Florida--smart-card makers this week disclosed plans
for multipurpose cards that use Java as a way to custom-program card
functions.

Smart cards are similar to standard credit cards but have
an embedded microprocessor. Smart cards are popular in Europe for
electronic cash uses but have not caught on in the United States for a variety of
reasons, from a scarcity of smart-card readers to the lack of a standard
for smart-card design.

Now, smart-card makers are turning to Java as a way to make the cards more
versatile, and, they hope, more appealing.

Two other chip heavyweights, Motorola and Hitachi said they too intend to
license Solo and its code to "Java-tize" their smart-card chips.

Schlumberger's announcement today followed its news yesterday that it
has created an "open technology platform," based on the JavaCard API
from Sun Microsystems' JavaSoft unit, for secure multiple
application smart cards.

GemPlus, another major smart-card
manufacturer, said yesterday that its first multiapplication cards for banks
will be available next month.

Schlumberger will make the platform available to financial institutions
that are members of Visa
International, which in March declared the JavaCard would be the basis
for its platform for multiuse smart cards. Specifications are due by
year's end.

Last week MasterCard outlined
its own multiapplication card strategy, based on technology from Mondex, in which MasterCard holds a 51
percent interest. Mondex's technology today is not based on Java, but
MasterCard said it would work with JavaSoft on the next version of the
JavaCard release, signaling MasterCard's intent to move its smart cards
to Java too.

Multiapplication smart cards appeal to financial institutions as a way
to reduce fraud by consolidating credit, debit, and electronic cash on one
smart card. But banker appeal alone isn't enough to cause a
changeover--applications like the Internet and building-security and
so-called loyalty programs are seen as crucial.

"You can't make a business case for smart cards based on financial
applications alone," said Tom Lebsack, Schlumberger director of
marketing. "With more applications, you can amortize costs across
multiple industries."

For example, putting credit and debit cards on smart cards requires
upgrading card readers used by merchants and restaurants to accept smart
cards, a costly upgrade. VeriFone,
the dominant provider of those countertop machines, just introduced an
add-on device to extend smart-card capabilities to some of its existing
terminals.

The first Gemplus multiapplication cards will carry a core set of
applications--credit, debit, stored value, loyalty--but
Gemplus software will let banks customize the cards for other uses
too, including building access and personal information storage.

"We will create products that can carry all applications in the future,"
said Scott Rau, Gemplus vice president for North America. "The goal is
to create products that are open in architecture and delivered through
members of Visa and MasterCard."